BOSTON – There are no difficult decisions to make about shootout participants if your team avoids the post-overtime spectacle.

That was Bruins head coach Claude Julien’s big decision tonight in his team’s 3-2 overtime victory over Buffalo at TD Garden.

Faced with a team that has dropped all three of its shootouts this season and hasn’t fared too well in the gimmick since Julien took over as bench boss, the coach went all out after the extra point by going with three forwards and one defenseman during the 4-on-4 portion of overtime.

“Well, it’s been tough for us, I think, in that area,” Julien said after the game about getting points in games that go beyond regulation. “Number one, as you saw tonight, we used three forwards and one D to try to get some more offense in that five-minute overtime, 4-on-4. Most of our offense has been coming from up front. At the same time, we haven’t been very good in shootouts. We don’t have a very good percentage as a group, so I guess, for the time being, you try to adjust and try and put the odds on your side. We went that way and ended up on the power play and were able to score.”

The forward-filled strategy paid off when Marc Savard drew a high-sticking call on Buffalo rookie Luke Adam at 1:16 on an attempted break out with Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic. Less than a minute of game time and one video review later, the Bruins had their extra standings point. Even that power-play goal came with a stroke of coach’s intuition.

During a power play late in regulation, Julien had replaced Dennis Seidenberg with Andrew Ference. Julien told TheBruinsBlog.net after the game that he could tell Seidenberg was struggling to move the puck on previous man-advantages and Ference had been enjoying a solid night. But with the 4-on-3 power play in overtime, Julien sent Seidenberg out onto the ice with Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and Mark Recchi.

Seidenberg’s one-timer from the high slot was originally credited as the game-winning goal before it was changed to Recchi. Nonetheless, Julien’s decision to stick with his preordained four-man power-play unit paid off. Julien credited Seidenberg for getting into the shooting lane so he could do something with Krejci’s pass, which is something the defenseman is usually adept at.

Julien takes a lot of heat when things aren’t going well. At different times the masses want him to change his defense-first approach, pick better shooters for the shootout (see yesterday’s column for more on that) and stick with one goaltender for longer stretches. Some want him to juggle his lines, while others want more consistency in the lines.

What it comes down to is, Julien showed tonight that he’s both aware of his team’s situation when it comes to shootouts, and he’s willing to do something about it. It’s telling, I think, that the Bruins didn’t practice shootouts yesterday – their first day back on the ice after Saturday’s shootout loss in Toronto. It was almost like Julien was saying “let’s not practice it because we’re not going to do it.’

Things could’ve easily gone the other way. Buffalo could’ve exploited Boston’s three-forward alignment for a breakaway goal or the Sabres could’ve earned their own power play. However, Julien still would’ve been right to roll the dice because the Bruins in the shootout almost always come up snake eyes.

It’s difficult to decipher how much difference coaching makes on a night-to-night basis in sports. Obviously, Tim Thomas, Seidenberg, Recchi and others deserve most of the credit for this win. But Julien should receive his due as well this evening.

If you think this team is playing well, I am not sure what you are watching. They are winning because of TT. He is stopping everything. I love the people who look only at stats and don’t actually watch this team play and say that they are playing well. I would say they are playing decent. They can be much better. I expect them to be.

Thanks for the spelling lesson Char

CNL, I don’t think anyone is saying that Chara is not a great defensive defenseman. Speaking for myself, I said he looked tired and has had a bad couple of games. I would rather see his minutes reduced a little. He plays better and he won’t wear down over the course of the season.

@ Mark… I thought the same thing, concerning the 4th line, but earlier on in the 3rd. Julien puts them out to grab some energy, which they did, securing an offensive zone face off, B’s down 2-1… My buddy (not a B’s fan as I live in Toronto) laughed at me as I continued to curse Julien for leaving the 4th line on for the faceoff. They proceeded to dominate Buffalo for about 30 seconds before being joined by Horton who scored the tying goal. I’m assuming this is why he continued to lean on them down the stretch.
@ Aaron… I’m down with being critical and expecting the best from our Bruins. I think the CNL watching the game live echoes many of the sentiments on here, but in the aftermath, we’re getting the results so I prefer to focus on the positive. Honestly, it’s really only the ridiculous critiques that bring me to respond, like bringing up Krecji or Chara’s defensive abilities.
I mean, I watch about 10 NHL games a week and I don’t see anything lacking from our game that isn’t missing anywhere else in the league on a given night. If and when we can put it all together, I don’t think there’s a team who can match up with us. This also leads to my general positivity.
To put it simply, our first line spends more time in the opposition’s end than ours, and has 63 points between them. Point us.
Our second line (I consider Savvy’s line our 2nd) is lacking a little chemistry at the moment but has a proven 90 pt guy, centering a 19 year old with finish and a guy who will score 30 this year. Point us.
Our third line is the best in the league. Point us.
Our 4th line is the best in the league and on some nights, the best on our team. Point us.
Defensively, we’ve allowed the fewest goals in the league. Point us.
Yes, I think Horton should be (at least look) more involved sometimes, but it’s not really what I expect from him. I expect him to bury game-tying goals when we need them.
Yes, I think we should move more easily out of our own end, and give a 60 minute effort on a nightly basis, but at least we have the personnel to bail us out when it all goes to shit.
And yes, we would be justified grilling Weber if he was a Bruin. That was gross. Thankfully he isn’t, but I’d sure love to have Montodor in our 5 or 6 spot this year. He’s having a great year so far.

CNL – we do tend to focus on the negative. If Weber were a Bruin we fans would have absolutely crucified him. I think the frustration is that we’ve seen this team play a lot better than they currently are and know they are capable of much more.

Also, despite Horton’s gawdy +/-, I haven’t been impressed with his game recently. He has the ability to be dominant physically, but seems to choose to avoid contact too often. Looch on the other hand has been an absolute beast (and even he could step up his physical game a bit). If Horton played with Lucic’s intensity he would be phenomenal.

PCL – probably right about not forcing extra minutes on Savard (although the variance in TOI between all 4 lines on this team is pretty minimal) just yet. More about moving Krejci to get his head back in the game and Savvy seems like a better fit on that line to me than Bergeron.

I’m not sure what game you guys watch sometimes. We are ripping on a team, we don’t feel has played a solid 60 minutes forever and yet they’re 15-8, 7 points out of first overall with 3 games in hand…
Last night’s game was a decent effort. Not great by any means but they certainly weren’t “coasting”. Buffalo is a fast team, playing well in front of a rejuvenated Miller lately. The quick teams in this league are gonna give us a decent run for the money when they’ve got any kind of jump. Especially in our own end when they get on top of our D and crash down on our listless passes up the wings.
Yes, our D- blows at moving the puck. This is evident on a nightly basis. When we are patient and reverse the puck is when we look our best (which is OK). Do it 5 times if we have to. I find we want to go North-South too soon sometimes and send the puck right into high traffic areas. Still our D is a ridiculous +49 combined so I don’t think we should be anywhere near panic-mode yet.
To say Chara is not a great defensive-defensemen is the most ludicrous statement I may have ever read on here. Ask any NHL forward who they would least like to go into a corner vs. About 90% of them would say Chara. He’s gonna punish you and the odd time when you think you’re leaving with the puck, he turns and, with a flick of the stick, you’re right back where you started. It’s his offense that keeps him from winning the Norris Trophy annually.
Do you know who leads our team in +/-?? Horton (+15), who also had two points last night, as well as Krecji who has 8 points in his last 6 games since returning from his concussion. I definitely don’t share the same ill feelings some of you seem to there. Currently, we have a perfect “3rd” & “4th” line with Bergy’s and Campbell’s. A huge edge for us as a tight game wears on.
And, as for Claude’s approach in OT. I’d rather lose in OT than a shoot-out any day. To be honest, I’d rather win in OT as well.

For what it’s worth, Savard it no where near being able to do first line minutes, nor is his game at that level yet. Come on! He looks like he’s only played three game this year so far… It’ll come, but not by forcing him big minutes against other teams top defenders.

Bruno G: “By the way is there any reason why PK Subban was a health scratch last night? ”

He’s actuall been a HS for a couple of games now. Check the tape from a game last week, can’t remember who it was agaisnt, but he gave the puck up twice for the tying and GWG. Like Aaron said, “Just a reality check for PK, they don’t like his attitude. A little lesson in humility…” Plus, they haven’t lost w/o him in the line-up so far, so no rush to get him back I guess. Unless you consider what something like this might do to his confidence, etc. I like what Jonsey was saying about it last night on VS, “That’s his game. It’s what has gotten him here. Why change it? You knew what you were getting.” Or something like that.

I thought that Buffalo applied a lot more pressure, but I think it was a function of poor breakouts and their speedy forwards versus our stiff defense.

What is funny is that as weak of an effort as it looked, the Bruins missed like 3 wide open nets (Wheeler) and passed several times when it looked like a shot had a very good chance of going in (Savard does this a lot).

As for Sturm, the caveat is if he can play. His knees are clearly an issue. If the Bruins would put him in the lineup without the cap issues, my preference is him over Ryder. Maybe I am jaded but I just don’t like the way Ryder plays the game

Looking forward to seeing Kampfer tomorrow night

I agree that maybe it is Savard who should go play with Horton and Lucic. Savard isn’t going to shoot much and those two can circle the net like vultures and feed off of Savard’s passes. That may work well. I would love to see Seguin with Bergeron and Recchi. Recchi could really help him I think if they were on the ice together.

Wheeler seems like the only viable chip in a trade, unless they would deal Caron or Coburne (which I would)

I like the idea of moving Bergie back on the first line with Lucic and horton. It seems that since Krecji is back Horton it´s abeen a ghost and the line hasn´t (exception of last night) produce much lately.
By the way is there any reason why PK Subban was a health scratch last night? I know it´s a tough to get player but he would definetly add something to our D. Just saying.

MCK – I agree with much of your post, although I thought the game was fairly even. Both teams had opportunities and held offensive pressure for good stretches, a team like Buffalo that is so attack heavy is going to give the B’s immobile D fits. The B’s had lots of chances that they just muffed: posts, passing up shooting opportunities, fumbled passes.

The breakout is (and has been since 2 seasons ago) the achilles heal of this team. Wheeler ++ for a PMD is the best (maybe only) option the team has. 1 guy is unlikely to entirely fix the problem, but it sure as heck couldn’t hurt. We may get a chance to see Kampfer now with Stu hurt and see if that changes the dynamic any.

I don’t agree with Sturm for Ryder, I like Sturms heart, but given his knees, I’ll take the known over the unknown. And despite Ryders permanent place in the dog house with most fans, he’s been far from the worst B’s forward.

Z looks tired or hurt as does Krejci (perhaps not fully recovered yet?). I like what Julien did swapping Savard onto that top line, hopefully that will spark them. Horton shouldn’t be immune from criticism either as he has all but disappeared too, despite hitting the score sheet recently, he’s been a ghost on the forecheck.

If Stuart is out for any extended period of time… get Steve Kampfer up to the big club. Give him some good time vs. the Islanders, maybe even on the power play. Everyone knows he outplayed Hunwick in camp, and has been lighting it up in Providence… on a team that’s struggled all season, he’s a +10 with 3-13-16 totals in 20 games. Honestly… the kid can play. Maybe his quickness could end up being part of the answer when moving in transition. Regardless, the other part of the answer is in the coaching, so let’s see how CJ reacts.

Claude went with 3 forwards and 1 defenseman, but, the score was made with 2 forwards and 2 defensemen. Either Claude or his coaches were not ready to commit to the 3/1, but it is a good idea. Claude’s coaching staff seems lost in the up-tempo NHL

I agree with overall point that this team is coasting. I’m not sure how the coaching staff and management can light a fire, but I’d like to see something done. The way this team is playing isn’t fair to fans who have purchased tickets.

If Claude’s going to go with a 3 forward 1 defense grouping for overtime, Chara CANNOT be that defenseman. He’s too eager to score and it almost cost the Bruins the game last night when he joined the rush, didn’t score, and that turned into a big chance for the Sabres. And then he fell on his ass trying to get the puck back out of his end, and gave up ANOTHER chance to the Sabres.

Chara may be a good offensive-defenseman, but he may be the WORST defensive-defenseman on the Bs. He cannot be the last thing standing between opposing teams and the goaltender if the Bruins expect to win in the extra time.

I also agree with MCK that Chara’s ice-time needs to be trimmed, but if Stuart is hurt then if anything he’ll be seeing even more ice-time. Groan.

Very happy to see The Claude adapt and change his strategy in the extra frame. I’m even happier that it paid off. Now if he can do something about the breakout and PP they’d have a really solid chance of going deep in the post season.

At the game last night. They were listless for 52 minutes of the game and then came on at the end. You can’t play that way. The defense is horrible in their own zone, with no control of the puck, tentative play and seemingly without a single guy who can make a decent breakout pass. They lean on TT way too much. If he wasn’t having the best 2 months of arguably any goalie ever, this team would be well below .500. On offense, no one goes towards the net. Everything is towards the boards of the half wall. They have no one (sometimes Lucic) who has the sack to go right down the pike and ram into the goalie with the puck. No one. Then, once they get to the half wall, they pass it back to the point at ALL costs. It doesn’t matter what is happening on the ice, where the teammates are or where the opposing team is. They pass it to the point. Funny thing happened last night. Lucic put it towards the net in the first period and it went in. What a novel concept

This team had better start playing 60 minutes or this is all a waste of our time. They are coasting right now. They coasted in Toronto and they coasted last night. They need to shape up.

Personally, I would make some serious roster moves:

1. If Sturm ever gets healthy, I would put Ryder in Providence and Sturm in the lineup. At least Sturm has a pulse.

2. I would trade Wheeler and whatever else (not the Toronto first rounder) for another defenseman. They are woefully thin on defense, and no, having Wideman or Hunwick around wouldn’t change that. Both of those guys were wretched in their own zone.

3. I would get Krecji away from Lucic and Horton. Perhaps keep Bergeron with them.

4. I would sit Krecji down a few games. He looks disinterested, lazy and slow. He made some real dumb plays last night.

5. I would trim Chara’s ice time. He looks tired and he has not played well lately.

I’m so glad that CJ finally had a man post up in the crease on the power play. I hope that this trend continues as the season goes on… the B’s have found pretty limited success with the umbrella-style attack on the man advantage, so I’d like to see them at least switch it up once in a while and get Rex or Wheels in front of the opposing goaltender.